Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Recently, my good friend and fellow TMNT alumnus Steve Lavigne invited me to join him at a comic convention in North Haven, CT… and I decided to take him up on his offer. It's called the "Lock City Comicon", and it's being held this Saturday, July 28, at the Best Western at 201 Washington Avenue in North Haven.

I've never been to this show, so I don't know quite what to expect, but from the description at the convention website (https://www.lockcitycomiccon.com), it looks like it should be fun. And with Steve there, how could it not be? -- PL

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Thursday, May 26, 2016

I was just looking at the Comics Journal website, and stumbled upon a neat article about the comics "scene" as it pertains to Northampton, MA, home of Mirage Studios. It's a pretty good piece, but I noticed this error:"Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird moved here and started Mirage Studios shortly after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 was released."While it is true that we moved to Northampton "shortly" after TMNT #1 was released (I guess two years could conceivably qualify as "shortly"), it is not true that we "started Mirage Studios" upon moving to Northampton (in the summer of 1986, by the way). Mirage Studios was actually started back in 1983, in Dover, NH, less than a year before we published TMNT #1 in May of 1984. Mirage then moved to Sharon, CT and stayed there for two years before ending up in Northampton. -- PLHere's the link to the article:http://www.tcj.com/northampton-ma-scene-report/

Monday, May 2, 2016

My daughter Emily reminded me today that I'd been quoted in a New York Times article about the Turtles being chosen as this year's "family ambassadors" for New York City. Here's the link she sent me to the story:

It's pretty cool that the TMNT are being employed in this fashion, I think. -- PL

P.S. There is a link in the fifth paragraph of the piece for "their origin story", which takes you to a page at http://mentalfloss.com/article/30862/complete-history-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles, wherein one of the first things you read is "Struggling artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were living in Northampton, Massachusetts, when they came up with the Turtles in November 1983." That's a pretty blatant error with which to begin an otherwise decent article -- as true TMNT fans know, while Kevin and I met and became friends in Northampton in 1981, it wasn't until two years later -- when we were living in the same house in Dover, New Hampshire -- that we created the TMNT. It's particularly distressing to me because the writer of the mentalfloss.com article states in the first paragraph that "To make sure I got the scoop on everyone’s favorite pizza-obsessed heroes in a half-shell, I went straight to the source—co-creator Peter Laird—who was kind enough to answer our burning questions about the franchise. " I can't really remember being interviewed for this article, and I can't find any email record of it, but I know for certain I would never have told anyone that the Turtles were created in Northampton. In fact, I have pointed out this same mistake a number of times when I have seen it online and in print. Other than that, as I mentioned, it's a decent article. It's a long way from the "Complete History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", but as the last line of its first paragraph states, it's "a pretty good place to start".

Thursday, April 28, 2016

I got an update from my daughter Emily today regarding bidding on the first printing of TMNT #1 which I donated to the Umbrella Community Arts Center for their fundraising gala event called "Artgaeous". Here's what Em had to say about how to bid on this item:

"To have the first opportunity to bid on this piece of comic book history, you'll have to either actually be at Artrageous or buy a ticket to the event. (Tickets to the event can be purchased at http://theumbrellaarts.org/event/artrageous.) If you are unable to be there in person but are interested in bidding, you can purchase a ticket and send Emily your cell phone number. You will get a unique bidder link to join the auction and can bid along with the other gala attendees. However, if the book doesn't sell on the night of the gala, it will be offered on eBay or another online auction website. If you have any questions about the auction, you can contact Emily at emily@theumbrellaarts.org."

So that's pretty cool! By the way, this copy of TMNT #1 first printing has been graded by CGC as a 9.6. A photo of the "slabbed" book which Em just sent to me is at the top of this post. -- PL

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

As readers of my blogs and Facebook page may be aware, back in 2012 I reunited with a long lost love -- making pottery! I'd done it for one semester in college a little over forty years ago, and then for some reason or set of reasons never put my hands on the clay again until I started taking lessons and classes with Tiffany Hilton, a local "practical potter", as she refers to herself. (Don't let that somewhat modest description fool you -- she's incredibly skilled and a wonderful teacher.)

I haven't been drawing much in recent years, and the pottery has been a great creative outlet for me. I've enjoyed it immensely. Some friends and family members have dropped hints since I got back into doing ceramics that they wouldn't mind having a piece or two. That's flattering, and I have let one or two pots go, but I have to confess that I am kind of stingy with them -- I want to keep them all!

But I decided that for Free Comic Book Day this year at Steve Lavigne's "Shellback Artworks" store in Wells, Maine on Saturday, May 7, I would donate a couple of pots for a raffle. One of them is from that first year -- 2012 -- that I got back into pottery, and the other one is from my most recent class in 2016.

The piece from 2012 is a kind of goblet, although one more suited to eating something like fruit salad or ice cream than having a drink from. The goblet form was one I had a lot of fun making in that long-ago class in college, and I had to try my hand at it again in TIffany's studio. On this particular piece, I also used some rolling-bead texturing tools I'd made to add some funky textures. This one measures about five inches tall and five and a quarter inches wide at the top.

The second pot I will be bringing to Shellback is this bowl from the most recent class I took in 2016. It measures about three inches high and six inches wide at the top.

This was one of a few bowls I used one of TIffany's newest glazes on, a yellow glaze which also has some cool light brown elements in it. This bowl would be well-suited to eating soup or a small salad from. (The quarter in the lower left of the photo is for scale.) Here's a top view of this bowl which shows the slash of olive green glaze I used to decorate the inside.

TMNT fans might be interested to know that in signing each piece before they were fired, I included with my signature a small Turtle head sketch, as seen in this example below.

I'm not sure how Steve is planning to run the raffle, but I expect the rules will be made clear on Free Comic Book Day. -- PL

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

My daughter Emily works for a wonderful nonprofit arts organization in Concord, Massachusetts called The Umbrella Community Arts Center (theumbrellaarts.org) and they are having their annual fundraising gala, Artrageous, on Saturday, May 7 at 40 Stow Street in Concord.

There will be a silent art auction at the gala, featuring all kinds of cool things, including a lot of original artwork… and a mint conditionfirst printing of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" #1 (the original Mirage Studios edition, published in 1984). This book has been graded by CGC at a 9.6, and I am donating this copy to the art auction from my small personal collection of TMNT comic books. All proceeds will go to The Umbrella.

The starting bid on this rare comic book will be $5,000 (five thousand dollars), and I am also offering (if a buyer wants it) to personalize the book with my signature (and probably a small Turtle head sketch) inside the book or on its cover.

I got an update
from my daughter Emily today regarding bidding on the first printing of
TMNT #1 which I donated to the Umbrella Community Arts Center for their
fundraising gala event called "Artgaeous". Here's what Em had to say
about how to bid on this item:

"To have the
first opportunity to bid on this piece of comic book history, you'll
have to either actually be at Artrageous or buy a ticket to the event.
(Tickets to the event can be purchased at http://theumbrellaarts.org/event/artrageous.)
If you are unable to be there in person but are interested in bidding,
you can purchase a ticket and send Emily your cell phone number. You
will get a unique bidder link to join the auction and can bid along with
the other gala attendees. However, if the book doesn't sell on the
night of the gala, it will be offered on eBay or another online auction
website. If you have any questions about the auction, you can contact
Emily at emily@theumbrellaarts.org."

So that's pretty cool! By the way, this copy of TMNT #1 first printing has been graded by CGC as a 9.6. A photo of the "slabbed" book which Em just sent to me is at the top of this post. -- PL